Chapter 122: New Crew

Panzi frowned and said, "How come I don't know about this? Third Uncle came back? When did he give those orders?"

Seeing how we looked, the man thought Panzi was messing with him, shrugged, and smiled, "Don't play dumb with me. The stuff is for you, how could you not know?"

Panzi got angry and cursed, "Why would I lie to you? What did Third Uncle say, and when?"

Only then did the man realize we really didn't know, and he found it strange too. He said, "I don't know the details either. I just heard it from Boss Chu at the pawnshop. He's in the back; go ask him."

Panzi grunted and led me through the narrow passage. At the end was an iron door, unlocked. He pushed it open, revealing a crude office. On a sofa sat a bald, oily-faced middle-aged man smoking a cigarette. Seeing us come in, he threw the butt on the floor, stomped it out, and stood up.

Panzi greeted him, "Brother Chu," his attitude suddenly becoming respectful. I immediately realized this was the man who had passed on Third Uncle's message to me.

He looked at Panzi, then at me, and said, "Why are you so late? I've been waiting for you two for two days."

Panzi told him about what happened on the road and, without waiting for his reaction, asked urgently, "Brother Chu, what the hell is going on? Who did we piss off at the bureau?"

Brother Chu said calmly, "Don't panic first. Nothing's happened. It was your Third Uncle's idea. He had me leak news about some deals he made a few years ago, to stir things up at the bureau. Now the department has set up a special task force to investigate. I don't know what his intention is, but it looks like he's creating obstacles for another group of people."

"Another group?"

"Yes. Because of this move, the entire antique market has been implicated. Everyone who has business ties with your Third Uncle is now under surveillance. That means anyone who hasn't prepared in advance will find it very difficult to operate. Your Third Uncle is buying you time."

I looked at Panzi, not quite understanding what the bald man was saying. "Time for what?"

The bald man shrugged, indicating he didn't know either. "Your Third Uncle is an old hand in the underworld. I can't figure out his schemes."

Panzi asked him, "So earlier, that guy Jiusi outside said the equipment is ready and that you arranged it. What's that about?"

Brother Chu said, "Like I said, once I leaked the news, anyone in this line of work would find it hard to carry out any activities. So your Third Uncle had me do what we needed to do before leaking the news. I bought the equipment early. If I tried now, no one on the market would dare to sell, not even a shovel."

I asked, "But why buy all this equipment? We're not planning any jobs."

Brother Chu said, "That's exactly why your Third Uncle left you a message." He gestured for us to sit down. "Actually, your Third Uncle's equipment—he didn't originally include a share for you. That is, he prepared five sets of gear, one of which was for himself."

He paused, then continued, "But when he called me, he also said that he wasn't the only one doing what he was doing. There were others competing with him, and they were no pushovers either. So if he didn't come back, that set of gear was for you. No matter what, you have to carry on his work and not let the other group get ahead."

Another group? I suddenly thought of the company A-Ning belonged to. Could this be why Third Uncle double-crossed them in the underwater tomb? Panzi asked, "Did Third Uncle say who the other group is?" The bald man shook his head. "No, but I think Third Uncle might have already fallen into their hands. Otherwise, he should have shown up by now. Unfortunately, we know nothing. Otherwise, no matter how big their backing is, I think we could handle them."

I gasped inwardly. The bald man continued, "The place you're going is the Hengshan mountain range in the Changbai Mountains of Jilin. The exact location can only be marked by coordinates, but I've already arranged for local guides to take you there."

Changbai Mountains—at this point, all our memories related to Changbai were about Wang Zanghai's Cloud Summit Palace. Without a doubt, somewhere in the Hengshan range must be the location of Cloud Summit Palace.

But why did I have to go to a place like that? For no reason at all, I was heading to some inexplicable place, and in winter no less? Seeing my face turn green, the bald man suddenly sighed and said, "Honestly, I'm confused too. But I've thought it over carefully. The only thing you can do now is to follow the plan your Third Uncle set up, step by step, to find clues. Otherwise, I doubt your Third Uncle will make it through this."

Panzi patted me, then turned back to ask, "So, in Third Uncle's plan, what should we do next?"

The bald man said, "There are five of you in total. First, take the train to Jilin. We'll have the luggage shipped there by some means. Then a car will take you to the next point. The people have all been arranged by Third Uncle; they've mostly arrived."

Panzi and I exchanged a glance. Jilin—so it looked like we really were going to climb a snowy mountain. The bald man said he would handle all the details of our trip, so we didn't need to worry, just get on the road. We just had to be careful not to get caught by the police. The schedule was tight: one night in Changsha, then tomorrow we'd be sent directly to the train. Tickets and even toiletries were all packed and ready. The other three already knew all the details; if we had questions, we could ask them tomorrow.

This bald man's administrative ability was surprisingly strong. Third Uncle had entrusted him to pass the message, and this plan must have been in preparation for a long time. I wondered what his goal was. We asked a few more questions, but the bald man only knew part of it, not the whole. However, from his tone, Third Uncle's arrangements were flawless. The old hand had finally shown his skills.

We went back the way we came. Outside the shop, I saw a lot of used computer monitors being delivered. Panzi told me that the antiques were hidden inside for transport. At ordinary checkpoints, this kind of packaging wouldn't be detected. The bald man's plan to ship our equipment to Jilin must be through this method.

Panzi was a local here. That evening, he took me to eat Changsha-style dumplings. I'd been to Changsha more than once, so it wasn't new to me. As we ate, we discussed the news the bald man had given us. After thinking for a while, Panzi said to me, "Young Master Wu, after thinking it over, I always feel that the resource company you mentioned—the one that prepared everything for you in Xisha—is suspicious. Could it be that the batch of people Third Uncle was talking about is them?"

I said, "I thought of that a long time ago. But I think the problem isn't the company itself, but the people behind it. Anyway, we don't need to think too much. Once we get there, even if we don't go looking for them, they'll come to us. The question is, can we trust Brother Chu?"

Panzi said, "Young Master Wu, don't underestimate me. I was in the army, and I'm good at judging people. You can absolutely trust him. I'm just worried about the other three people who we're going with. What kind of characters are they?"

I said, "Third Uncle's arrangements can't be wrong."

Panzi shook his head. "Hard to say. Third Uncle always says you have to watch someone for 365 days, and missing even one day won't do. People change. If you don't see him for a week, he might already be plotting against you. Especially in our line of work, those uneducated bastards—to put it bluntly, every one of them has blood on their hands. When it comes down to it, they'd even bury their own mother. Third Uncle's been away so long, the morale of the guys here is bound to shift."

I said, "You can't be too demanding either. We'll take it one step at a time."

It got cold on the streets at night. After eating, we went straight back to Panzi's old place to sleep. We got up in the morning, ate breakfast, and then Brother Chu's car came to pick us up. I shouldered my personal luggage from afar and saw someone already sitting in the car.

Looking closely, I saw it was an old man. His face looked familiar, like I'd seen him somewhere recently.

I didn't think much of it and walked over joking with Panzi. When I got closer, I suddenly froze.

That old man—with his build and that strange outfit—was none other than Chenpi A'si, the one I saw at Second Uncle's teahouse in Hangzhou!

My mouth fell open and my neck went stiff. I thought, What's he doing sitting in the car? Could it be that this old man is one of the five? That can't be, right?

Panzi saw him too, muttered something, and also looked shocked.

Brother Chu waved us over to hurry up. Confused, we got into the car. Panzi knew Chenpi A'si and greeted him. The old man kept his eyes closed, resting, and just gave a slight nod. Panzi immediately turned to the driver, Brother Chu, and mouthed silently, What's going on? Brother Chu smiled helplessly and mouthed back that he didn't know either—Third Uncle had arranged it this way.

No way, I thought. Isn't this old guy blind? And his age combined is older than me and Panzi put together. What kind of trick is Third Uncle playing? We arrived at the train station feeling uneasy. I was calculating in my mind: the first person Third Uncle arranged for us was a nearly hundred-year-old man. It's hard to estimate what the second person would be like—it might well be a pregnant woman with a big belly or a disabled person in a wheelchair.

Could it be that Third Uncle wants to test our compassion? Fortunately, Chenpi A'si was very healthy. He got off the train with his hands behind his back. Bald Head treated him with great respect and helped carry his luggage. To be flexible in case of changes, we still chose the less comfortable sleeper compartment. It had six berths per room, and one bed could hold the luggage.

We came to our room. I poked my head in and saw Fatty eating instant noodles. When he saw me, he raised his eyebrows and said in surprise, "Damn it, you again?"

My head immediately started to ache, and my heart skipped a beat. I thought to myself, how did Third Uncle find him? Could it be that it's still the same team as before? I immediately turned to Fatty's upper berth, and sure enough, a pair of calm eyes with no trace of emotion were looking at me.

I heaved a sigh of relief. Poker-face squinted at me, then turned over and went back to sleep.